Hel

Hel - painting by Santiago Pani Hel, often depicted as a half-living, half-dead woman, is the daughter of the trickster God Loki and the giantess Angrboða.

She presides over the realm of Helheim, a land of the dead that is distinct from Valhalla, where fallen warriors go. Helheim is a place where souls who did not die honorably in battle end up. In Hel's world, the sun never rises, and the day can never begin. Her domain is perpetually shrouded in darkness, mirroring the somber and neutral nature of the afterlife she governs.

Hel's appearance reflects her dual nature, with one side appearing as a beautiful, living woman and the other as a decaying corpse. Her domain is a place of neutrality, where the souls of the departed experience neither joy nor suffering, but rather, a quiet existence.

In Norse mythology, Hel is a complex and enigmatic figure, embodying the concept of mortality and the acceptance of fate.